I am in the army...how do I improve my qualifying score with my M-16 A2 rifle?

Question

I know the basics like trigger squeeze and breathing, and aim, and stuff...but I was wondering if anybody had any REALLY good tips or secrets or something to up my score...

Answer 1

Here's the most common problems I see on the range.

Get a good cheek/stock weld. Get the same one EVERY time. I know that if the corner of the charging handle is against my right nostril, I'm in the exact same place every time.

As far as breathing, I'm sure you've heard BRAS--breath, relax, aim, squeeze. I personally find myself holding my breath. But I do that with everything I concentrate on, so it's natural for me.

Make sure just the pad of your finger is on the trigger and you pull it straight back slowly.

If you're shooting prone, make sure your body is based out so you stay balanced and steady.

Make sure you understand what a sight picture _should_ look like.

The shot itself should be a surprise after slow, steady pressure on the trigger. Meanwhile, make sure you're keeping your eyes open when you fire! Have a range instructor watch you closely to be sure.

Good luck!

Answer 2

The M-16A2 has a 3-shot burst.Inside your lower receiver you will see this 3 hook gear. On burst, this will cause the weapon to fire only three rounds and no more. But on semi, what happens is that,like on any gear,the more turns it takes the more tension builds.
On the first hook,the trigger pull will be light.On the second hook the trigger pull will be "medium".On the third and final hook, the trigger pull will heavy.Then the process starts over again.
To put it simply, concentrate on the sight picture and not on the trigger pull.Since the trigger pull changes every three rounds.Doing so means the first round goes off too early and the third round goes off too late.
Grip the weapon firmly and after you have the target in your sights, squeeze the trigger(And dont think about how much to squeeze,just squeeze.)
To understand this better,charge your weapon and hold your rifle by the butt stock with your left hand.Place your trigger finger on the trigger from your right hand(if you are right handed).Let go of the butt stock and you will have the weapon held only by your finger.Shake the weapon lightly and you will see how much it will take before the trigger is pulled.Do this every three times and you will see which trigger pull is the "light, medium and heavy".That will be the 3 hook gear.

Answer 3

I am pretty a good shot just kind of naturally, after military training I am an even better shot because once you apply all the appropriate techniques the real moment of making a good shot happens with relaxing.
Find the bulls eye, Find the back site. Slowly begin to bring the front site down until it is dead center and begin pulling the trigger very slowly. That is the moment for being relaxed. The time it takes for the trigger pull beginning and the shot being off can seem like a very long time, or it should.
Let the gun decide when it is time to discharge the bullet.
This can happen very quickly, except the relaxing part, relaxing has its own time.

Try it, good luck!

Answer 4

all 4 of those elements will help if you do them correctly. Pay attention to your sight-picture and aim a little lower than center-mass. Don't blink your eyes when you squeeze the trigger and take breaths in between shots. Once you've shot, shut your eyes for a second and get a new-sight picture. Do that for each shot. And hold the trigger throught the shot. Just practice those things on the range before you shoot. There are no secrets...just practice and pay attention to what you're doing!

Answer 5

take a sharp pencil and stab the targets!!! A govt. skill-craft pen will work in a pinch but its a little bigger than the 5.56 mm holes that are normally there. . .

JUST KIDDING!!!

Really the practice practice practice answers above are pretty accurate... if you have the fundamentals down right it's a matter of getting to the range as often as you can and putting bullets down range using the fundamentals will pay off on Q day...

NOW - I know, depending on your unit, you may not have lots of range time available... check with your unit and see if anyone can get some of the simulation training laid on (Weaponeer, FATS) there's a good chance you already have those systems available on post sitting in a closet.

If you have an extra$600-$1000 or so, head to the local gun shop and buy your own AR-15. there are usually a few sport shooting ranges available to off duty military personnel right on post... go plinking in the evenings after work... to improve your own skills... Rifles usually do a pretty good job of retaining their value so even if you spend a couple hundred dollars you will more than likely be able to get that money back in the future...

Answer 6

I don't know if this is still true or not, but when I went through OSUT at Fort Benning(1989) the qualification targets always come up in the same order. If that is still true memorize the sequence so that you can orient yourself on the correct target before it pops up. That's how I scored expert.

Answer 7

If you can get range time i recommend that you have a peer coach or someone else that fires well and is good at teaching watch what you are doing so that he can point out areas to improve in. Other than that, all major methods are already listed by others.

Answer 8

Get somebody who is good and have them work with you. There were two soldier's in my husband's unit who couldn't even score enough to qualify and therefore couldn't pull guard duty or anything. My husband always gets pretty decent to excellent scores so he went out to the range with them one day and just worked with them. The unit was getting so fed up with those two that they happily excused them and my husband for the day to hopefully get them to pass. The next week they were tested and finally managed to qualify. They just needed someone to work with them and give them some good tips.

Answer 9

Practice.

Visualize the bullet going downrange and hitting the center.

Answer 10

hold the rifle tight to your shoulder, have confidence, practice a lot definitely if you haven't put a lot of rounds down range your whole life